LEILA FADEL, HOST:
President-elect Trump often talks about being the country's savior.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: And that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.
FADEL: Language like this and claims that Christianity is under attack in the U.S. from the so-called radical left show the way Trump has appealed to those in conservative evangelical circles that have embraced Christian nationalism - the belief that the U.S. is a Christian nation and the country's laws should draw from Christian values. Kristin Kobes Du Mez teaches at Calvin University, a Christian school, and she explores how her faith has been politicized.
KRISTIN KOBES DU MEZ: What's different about Christian nationalism is this sense of privilege that the country itself must reflect particular Christian values. They present histories - largely mythical histories of the founding era that suggests that the Constitution was, even some will go as far as to say, inspired by God and that the Constitution reflects biblical values.
FADEL: Such ideas are promoted in Project 2025, a sweeping road map for a future conservative president outlined by Trump loyalists. Trump distanced himself from the agenda when it got negative attention during his campaign.
DU MEZ: You can see certainly a Christian nationalist agenda embedded in that. Yes, it entails anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ laws. But it goes far beyond that. It also shares the anti-immigration platform - things like a broader antiwoke agenda and reshaping American public education.
FADEL: Now Trump is promising to create a task force focused on anti-Christian bias.
DU MEZ: You have to understand that within conservative Christian spaces, there has long been the argument that Christians are persecuted, that the religious liberty of Christians is under threat and that that needs to be remedied. Now, to understand how that can make sense when the majority of Americans do hold Christian beliefs, it's important to note that when they talk about threats to religious liberty, many conservative Christians have a fairly expansive notion of what that entails. They want the religious liberty not just to practice their own beliefs, but also they think that to be faithful as Christians means to reshape society and even to impose those beliefs on fellow Americans. And when they are not able to do that, that seems like a restriction on their religious liberties. It'll be very interesting to see what that task force actually entails because within the Christian nationalist framework, often some of the key targets of Christian nationalists are fellow Christians themselves - fellow Christians who did not adhere to the Christian nationalist agenda.
FADEL: Now, we should be clear that a lot of Christian Americans don't identify with Christian nationalism.
DU MEZ: Absolutely. And many Christians see Christian nationalism as a threat not just to Americans generally but as a threat to authentic Christian faith as well.
FADEL: So what about Trump appeals to this really religious right of Christianity?
DU MEZ: His real appeal lies in the fact that he has promised to give Christians power. Back in 2016, we heard of the King Cyrus prophecy that Trump was God's anointed, just like King Cyrus. He was a pagan king, but he rescued God's people from captivity in Babylon. This time around, they point to King Jehu, another Old Testament figure who was a warrior king, who defeated Ahab and Jezebel - enemies of God - and really cleaned house or, as they put it, drained the swamp and took vengeance and retribution upon those who were enemies of God's people. And so it's taken a darker turn. And, yes, he's not what many might expect, but he's their strong man. And in fact, he may be all the more effective at restoring Christian America because he's not constrained by traditional Christian virtue.
FADEL: This has long been a country that has upheld the separation of Church and state. And now the Public Religion Research Institute found as of February that 3 in 10 Americans in their survey qualify as Christian nationalist adherents who want the U.S. to be a Christian nation, as you laid out. Does that jeopardize that wall between church and state?
DU MEZ: It does. And it's worth noting that within conservative evangelical spaces in particular, for decades now, they have argued that the separation of church and state is a myth.
FADEL: So this is no longer a fringe ideology.
DU MEZ: It is not. It has not been a fringe ideology within conservative white evangelicalism for quite some time. And now they are in a position of power to try to implement some of their goals across the country.
FADEL: Kristin Kobes Du Mez is a professor of history and gender studies at Calvin University and the author of "Jesus And John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted A Faith And Fractured A Nation." Thank you so much for your time.
DU MEZ: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
